Halle Berry has signed on to star in "Class Act" for DreamWorks, and Doug Atchison has come on board to write and direct the true life tale reports Variety.

Berry will play Tierney Cahill, a teacher from Reno, Nev., who took a challenge from her sixth-grade students to run for Congress in the 2000 elections on the condition that they would help run her campaign. The single mother ultimately lost her bid to an incumbent, but she ended up winning 35% of the popular vote.

Casting is a unique move for Hollywood, in that Cahill is a white woman. A source the film said that when actresses were being bandied about, they felt it was more important to find the right actress to play the role rather than the right white actress. Production aims to begin in May or June.